Radio Free Asia: 'They Have Used The Law to Frame and Convict an Innocent Man'

■ Zhang Qing, wife of jailed rights lawyer Guo Feixiong, has written an open letter to the ruling Chinese Communist Party leadership, saying that her husband is the victim of trumped-up charges and that his trial and sentencing were riddled with breaches of legal procedure. Zhang, who was granted political asylum in the United States in November 2009 along with the couple's daughter Yang Tianjiao, spoke to RFA about her husband's case:

I don't think the case against Guo Feixiong should ever have existed in the first place. He was locked up without any evidence against him. Then, they spent a very long time looking for evidence to support charges against him. But they still couldn't find any, even though they looked for two-and-a-half years.

This has been a faked-up charge right from the start. Guo Feixiong made this case very clearly in his defense and in his appeal documentation. The crime he was charged with never took place.

This case was a miscarriage of justice manufactured by the state prosecution, the police and the courts, working together.

The actions of the judge in this case were particularly bad; there was no mischief they wouldn't stoop to in bringing this case.

The worst example was that, on the day of his sentencing, they got the prosecution to add a charge to the charge sheet at the last minute, then sentenced him on the basis of it, as if they were playing two roles [judge and prosecutor] at the same time.

Their actions were a travesty of justice, and I wondered if China's leaders know how rotten this case was.

If they want to be far-sighted in their leadership, then they should put a stop to this case, and not allow it to go any further.

The Chinese government has said on a number of occasions that it wants rule of law, and yet the methods used [in Guo's case] run entirely counter to their stated aim.

[In Guo's case], they have used the law as a tool to frame and convict an innocent man and to give him a heavy jail term, just because they wanted to.

The new charge was "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." Actually, the only person picking quarrels and stirring up trouble was the judge, who clearly had a quarrel to pick with the rule of law, and with anyone who loves justice, that's very clear.

Nobody who is in favor of justice would find this acceptable.

That's why I wrote this open letter. It doesn't matter whether the letter is effective; I had to do it anyway, because this case isn't just confined to the present; it will go down in history.

The process of the case, the actions of those involved, the reaction of the international community; all of this things form a part of history.

In writing this open letter, I am speaking directly to the historical record.

Reported by C.K. for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.